The Dreams that Guide Us
by redheadedfervor
Summary: Ginny Weasley's fifth year was going quite nicely until her boyfriend began to obsess over something totally ridiculous! Dean was convinced that Harry Potter fancies her! To make matters worse, she's started having dreams about a mysterious raven and red haired couple...
1. Silly Grins, a Row, and a Dream

**Author's note:**I started writing this for the 'Girl Talk' Challenge a little over a year ago over at SIYE. Thought I'd post it here too. Enjoy. :)

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"He's doing it again, Ginny. Look," Dean whined, "he's staring at you again. He fancies you, I just know it."

Ginny sighed heavily, and rolled her eyes, she determinedly kept her gaze deep in her Transfiguration book.

"Dean, honestly, you need to stop this. It's really starting to get on my last nerve," Ginny said, her voice obviously irritated.

"For the last time Harry is not, nor has he ever 'stared at me as though I were a piece of meat.' We're friends, and that's all. If there is one thing in this world that I _do_ know, it's that Harry Potter does not fancy me! Stop obsessing over it, I need to concentrate on this Transfiguration homework. McGonagall said that this material would definitely be on our O.W.L. exams, and I'm struggling to keep up with some of the vocabulary."

"Ginny, why won't you believe me? I know what I'm talking about, _he's_ been looking at you the way _I_ look at you. Trust me, there is nothing 'friend-like' in that sort of gaze."

"Alright fine! You want me to look, will that get you to shut up and leave me the hell alone so I can study? Fine, lets have a look, here we go," Ginny's patience had come to an end, and her temper was beginning to rise. She glared at Dean.

To prove Dean wrong yet again, she jerked her head up from her book and stared pointedly across the library to the table where Harry Potter was sitting, to inquire, for about the hundredth time, if he was 'checking her out.' However, unlike every other time Dean had made her do this, this time Harry _actually was_ looking directly at her.

His green eyes were fixated on Ginny. He appeared to be lost in a very nice day dream, Ginny thought perhaps it was just a coincidence, he was probably using one of Fred and George's Day Dream Charms and happened to be looking in her direction. But then their eyes met, he jumped and had an embarrassed 'caught in the act' type expression that flooded his face. He blinked awkwardly. Ginny's mouth dropped open a little. Could it be? Was Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One, was he actually _blushing_? He was! His face had gone beet-red!

After the initial shock of being caught had faded, Harry frantically began to try to recover. A goofy grin spread across his face and his eyebrows raised to an unusually high level. His hand shot into the air and he threw Ginny a very jerky wave, in an obvious attempt to make it appear that it was just a casual hello from across the library. Ginny couldn't help but smile and wave back, partly because she wanted to make him feel a little bit of warmth in his moment of humiliation and partly because she was fighting the urge to laugh hysterically at his ridiculous expression.

After he put his hand down, Harry continued grinning oddly at Ginny, then suddenly he jumped up and began to hurriedly gather his books and bag. In his rush, he dropped all of his books, which crashed loudly to the floor. His face went scarlet again, as he clumsily picked them up. Harry cast her another odd smile and head nod as he practically ran out of the the library.

"I told you, now you can't possibly deny it! Did you see the way he acted when you caught him?" said Dean his voice full of superiority.

Ginny, shook her head and absentmindedly looked back down at her book as if the whole spectacle had not affected her in the least. Yet, in reality her mind was reeling. Nevertheless, she didn't want to allow Dean the satisfaction of knowing that he might be on to something, so she acted as if nothing had changed.

"I don't see how that proves anything more. He just smiled and waved, there's nothing suspicious there. Friends do that sometimes, you know, acknowledge each other's presence while they're in the same room. Now, I've looked up and seen, again, absolutely nothing that convinces me that Harry fancies me, so I'm getting back to work now," Ginny said with an air of nonchalance. Dean looked at her incredulously, he went to open his mouth to retort, but without looking up from the page Ginny held up her hand to silence him.

"Dean Thomas if you say one more word about it, I swear I will ditch you right here and now in an incredibly loud and painful scene! So either go back up to the common room and tell someone who cares about your silly theory or sit here with me and read...in silence." Dean crossed his arms, for a moment to pout, but then soon enough he had angrily flipped open a book and began to read.

To one who didn't know better it appeared that she was entirely engulfed in her studies, but really Ginny could no longer concentrate on her homework. She couldn't get the image of Harry gazing at her from across the room. It was a gaze that she was all too familiar with, a longing, pining, and loving sort of gaze. It was the type of gaze that reminded her very vividly of a smaller, less mature, and absolutely Harry-crazy version of herself. Checking to see that Dean was thoroughly engrossed in his book, she glanced or her shoulder to see if there was somebody sitting behind her that had been the true object of Harry's strange behavior and penetrating stare. But, alas there were only bookshelves and a window, there was not a soul to be seen.

Dean had been going on about his suspicions about Harry's feelings toward Ginny for months now, but Ginny had never taken him seriously. It had only irritated her, to no end. She thought Dean was just cross at Harry because Ginny had yelled at him for laughing when Cormac McLaggen had knocked Harry out with that bludger. But, he was right tonight, it appeared that Harry had indeed been staring at her and it had been rather peculiar the way he had acted when Ginny had looked back at him...

It just couldn't be possible that Harry would fancy her! She was just Ginny, Ron's little sister, who was good for a laugh, but she was never anything more than that. At least that's what she thought Harry saw her as.

However as she began to think back on it, she recalled several recent occurrences when Harry had acted a bit bizarre around her. Like when he had hugged her after that Quidditch match, he had run over to her, thrown his arms around her, and pulled her into an unusually close and tight embrace. But then he had abruptly jumped backwards, and cast her a strange grin without meeting her eyes. The very same crooked, awkward grin he had just given her in the library.

It was true that she and Harry had certainly become closer this year. They talked more often now than they ever had before, but Ginny considered this to be just a result of perfectly platonic circumstances.

She had joined Dumbledore's Army, and she was one of the five people who had gone to the Ministry with him last year, which had automatically drawn them closer together. But aside from that, she had also spent a fair amount of their summer with him playing two-aside Quidditch with Ron and Hermione, and also just lounging around the Burrow together, poking fun at Fleur and Ron.

Now that she was on the Gryffindor house Quidditch team with him, they had practice several times a week together. Ginny knew that these were the reasons they were now friends, it was not because Harry fancied her. They had gotten to know each other and had found that they got on quite well, and that was that. There was nothing more too it...

But as she returned her focus to her Transfiguration again, somewhere deep down she could feel her stomach fluttering with little bubbles and her heart was beating very fast. She told herself that it was just due to anxiety about her homework, but she knew she was lying to herself.

Thirty minutes later she and Dean left the library, she had given up on the homework and decided that she would just ask Hermione for help with it. Dean grabbed Ginny's hand as they walked through the fourth floor corridor toward the stairs, but she jerked it away from him.

"What's the matter with you?!" protested Dean.

"Oh, I suppose you forgot you were being a jealous prat did you? Well I haven't, and I don't much feel like holding your hand," Ginny retorted, as she started up the stairs.

"Stop acting so superior Ginny, you know damn well why I'm worried! Stop pretending that you don't have any idea!"

"No, Dean sorry, but I really don't know why you have been obsessing over Harry. Maybe it's because it's [i]you[/i] who secretly fancies [i]him[/i], and you're trying to hide your unrequited love." She spat at him.

"No, the only person I have unrequited love for is you Ginny!" he said curtly.

Ginny stopped in her tracks, and turned to face him in shock.

"What?!"

"Yeah, that's right, I just said that I'm in love with you."

Ginny's heart sank, and she swallowed hard as Dean moved closer to her.

"Does that make you feel anything? Anything at all?" he asked her.

Ginny's eyes grew wide, did he really expect her to say that she loved him too? She stared at him in astonishment. After a moment she tried to pull herself together. She couldn't tell him that she loved him, because she didn't know if that word was the right one to describe how she felt for Dean. Like, definitely, but Love...

"Dean...I-" she said as she shook her head slowly.

"I thought not," he sighed. He looked hurt and turned his eyes away from her.

"Dean, that's not fair. You can't just tell me you love me in the middle of a row. You can't expect me to-"

"Yeah well, it's not exactly the way I wanted to tell you, but...but I guess I just thought it might help me make you understand."

"How on earth would that make me understand?"

"Because it shows you how high the stakes are for me, and I'm...I'm afraid." He turned back to her, and Ginny could see how sincere he was.

"What in Merlin's name are you afraid?" she asked softly.

"It's no secret that in the past you've had a major crush on Harry."

"Right, but I don't like him anymo-"

"Ginny, stop."

"Excuse me I think I can tell if-"

"I see the way you look at him, and you have never looked at me like that," he whispered. There was a great deal of pain in his voice as he spoke. Ginny reached out and touched his arm to try to comfort him.

"But Dean, I'm not with Harry, I'm with you."

At this Dean let out a sad chuckle.

"For now you are. But if I am right about him fancying you, and I know that I am, at some point you're going to realise it too, and when that happens I've got no chance."

Ginny took her hand away from him immediately, she was appalled.

"Is that really what you think of me!? That if Harry batts his eyes at me, then I'd just chuck you and throw myself into his arms?! I would never be that cruel! Do you not know me at all?! I would never do that to you! Because, in case you've forgotten, I care about you Dean!" she said hotly.

Dean looked directly into her eyes and said, "I'm sorry, but when it comes to the way you feel about Harry, I don't believe you."

Ginny's jaw dropped, as Dean walked past her and up the stairs. She was hurt, how could he think her so shallow? She hadn't spent these past nine months with him for nothing?! She truly cared for Dean, and she had thought that he knew her better than anyone. He knew how much she hated it when people messed other people around. She stood on the stairs for a long time trying to process what had just transpired, and by the time she climbed through the portrait hole of the Gryffindor common room, she was somewhere between positively fuming and heart wrenchingly confused.

"Hey Ginny," said a voice from one of the arm chairs near the fireplace. Ginny turned to see that Hermione had been the source, she was curled up with a book in her lap.

"Hello, Hermione," Ginny said as she walked toward the sofa adjacent from Hermione and plopped down onto it.

"I don't mean to pry, but are you alright? Dean came in a few minutes ago and he didn't look happy, you look a little upset as well, have you two had a row?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, a big one," sighed Ginny.

"Oh, dear. Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione said tentatively.

"Sure, why not?!" replied Ginny. "Maybe you can help me make sense of it all."

"Well, what were you arguing about?" said Hermione.

"Harry, actually. It was about Harry." Ginny said through gritted teeth.

"Harry? You had a row about Harry? Why?" Hermione's eyebrows raised.

Ginny sighed heavily and rolled her eyes before continuing.

"Because lately Dean is obsessed with the fact that he thinks Harry fancies me, and he's just told me he thinks if Harry does like me, then I'll leave him without so much as a second thought. Then Dean has the nerve to tell me the real reason he's obsessed with it all is because he's in love with me!" Ginny exploded, rather quickly, but Hermione heard it all the same.

"He told you that he loves you?!" Hermione gasped.

"Yes." Ginny answered, then she sighed again.

"What did you say to him?"

"I didn't know what to say! I guess I didn't say anything. I wasn't going to tell him that I loved him too, I'm not sure that I do."

"Well, it's good that you were honest with him, if you're unsure of your feelings. It wasn't very fair of him to tell you while the two of you were fighting," Hermione responded, her bushy hair bouncing as she nodded in agreement.

"That's what I said to him, but he said that it would help me understand why he's so upset about all this Harry stuff, because he's afraid," Ginny explained, throwing her hands in the air.

"I see," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"It's all perfectly ridiculous! But what really got me was that when I told him that even if Harry did like me, I wouldn't just ditch him, Dean told me that he didn't believe me! I mean anyone can see that number one: Harry does not like me as anything more than a friend, and number two: I am not a heartless hag! Isn't it absolutely ridiculous!"

Hermione's brow furrowed.

"Well, yes Ginny, it is ridiculous that he didn't believe you, but as for Harry's feelings toward you, I'm not so sure that Dean is off the mark," said Hermione slowly.

Ginny's eyes widened and it seemed as if she had lost all ability to speak.

"What?" she finally got out.

"Well," Hermione began with a soft smile, "do you remember me saying a long time ago that Harry might start to take more notice of you if you acted a bit more yourself around him?"

"Yes I remember that, it was ages ago," said Ginny, eyes still as large as a house-elf's.

"Granted, I'm hardly ever right when it comes to predicting what Harry will or will not do, so don't take this as absolute fact," Hermione prefaced, "but, I've noticed, lately, Harry's taken quite an interest in you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for example, we were talking the other day and, casually, I mentioned that you and Dean had had a row, all of a sudden he wasn't interested in anything else I had to say, and he demanded to know, with this greedy look in his eyes, what you two had argued about..."

"That doesn't prove anything, he was probably just concerned that a feud might be damaging to the Quidditch team..."

Before Ginny had finished her reasoning, Hermione began to giggle.

"What's so funny?" Ginny demanded.

"That's exactly what he said when I asked him why he was so interested," Hermione explained.

"See, it had nothing to do with me," Ginny said, feeling as though the battle had been won.

"Perhaps, but there've been other things as well. Such as: I catch him staring at you all the time, he's always going on about how you're the best chaser he's ever seen, including the ones he saw at the World Cup," Hermione said, rolling her eyes as if she'd heard this quite a lot, "and whenever you walk into a room, his face lights up and he gives you that silly grin."

"I have noticed the grin," Ginny conceded after a moment. Hermione looked at her knowingly, with eyebrows raised.

"Hermione, he just can't fancy me. He just can't," said Ginny, almost pleading.

"Ginny, I know you don't want to believe it because you gave up on him, and you don't want to get let down again. But this time I don't think you have to worry, and it's not like anything is going to happen anyway because you're with Dean, right?" said Hermione.

"Right." Ginny responded, she really hated how Hermione could read her mind sometimes.

"Well, I think I'm off to bed Hermione. See you in the morning." Ginny said after a few moments of processing their conversation.

"Alright, goodnight," said Hermione as Ginny got up and made her way to the stairs to the girl's dormitories. "And Ginny, I hope you work things out with Dean."

"Thanks," Ginny replied over her shoulder as she made her way up the stairs.

A few minutes later Ginny was snug inside the comfort of her four-poster, desperately trying to avert her thoughts from Harry Potter. She tossed and turned, and began to recite in her head all of the members of the Holyhead Harpies, but it was no use. Just before she drifted off to sleep, a vision of herself madly snogging the Boy-Who-Lived senseless in a very deserted corridor appeared flashed in her mind's eye, and she half-heartedly attempted to make it disappear.

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Ginny was outside on the grounds, it was a bright, warm day. The heat of the sun filled her up. She looked around her and admired the intense green of the grass below her feet. The reflection of the sun on the Black Lake sparkled brilliantly, and she thought that it might be nice to go and dip her toes in it. As she walked closer to the lake, something else caught her eye and she stopped in her tracks.

Underneath the large oak tree, that Ginny so loved to lie under on beautiful days such as this one, there were two people. A boy and a girl. From afar Ginny could see that the girl had long, flowing, red hair, and the boy had an untidy, jet black mop. Her heart began to pound, they had their arms around each other, and then suddenly they kissed. Curiosity, flooded Ginny, could it be that she was looking at herself and Harry from afar? Was this what her future held? She had a yearning desire to know. She had to get a closer look. However, instead of just walking discreetly over toward them, she instantly found herself directly in front of them, almost nose to nose. It was as if she had been apparated there. The young couple were now staring at her in surprise.

She was very embarrassed, she felt as though she were intruding, and she apologized profusely.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt..."

Shen knew that she should turn around and leave. But she couldn't help but stay grounded and survey them. She glanced up toward the boy's forehead, searching for a scar but there wasn't one to be found. He looked remarkably like Harry, almost identical. But as she began to scan each detail, she found that he had hazel eyes hidden behind his glasses, not the emerald green eyes that Ginny had come to know so well. He was not Harry.

As she turned her eyes to the girl, she knew instantly that it was not herself. Their eyes locked and Ginny felt a certain warmth emanating from the stranger's gaze. Ginny's mouth fell open, the boy may not have had Harry's green eyes but this girl did. They were exactly like Harry's, down to the exact shape and size. The girl smiled at her, and then at the boy. Then her eyes fell on Ginny again.

In a soft smooth and altogether warm voice the girl said slowly,

"Hello Ginny."


	2. Detentions and Discoveries

**Author's note**: Chapter 2 for you! Thanks for reading, and please feel free to review!

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It had been nearly three weeks since Ginny had first had the dream about the mysterious girl with green eyes. In that time, there had been no less than six nights in which the very same dream had appeared during Ginny's slumber. She couldn't understand why she kept having it. It didn't really seem to hold any important information, and it always ended right after the girl said hello to Ginny. But there was just something about it, something strangely intriguing and familiar about the way the girl spoke to her. However, she tried not to think on it too terribly often as her O.W.L.s were soon approaching.

After her row with Dean, they had not spoken to each other for three days. Dean came to her on the fourth evening in the common room and apologised to her for reacting the way he had. Ginny had forgiven him, but she was still upset that he had not believed her and she was not about to let him forget it. As a result, their relationship was very strained. Ginny couldn't help but notice the way that he would look at Harry with daggers in his eyes. He no longer said anything to Ginny about it, but she could tell that he was still just as suspicious and jealous as he had been on the night in the library, if not more so.

Ginny was finding it difficult to have a comfortable conversation with Dean, and she also had developed feelings of resentment, annoyance, and dread whenever she was supposed to be spending time with him. She was beginning to think about breaking it off with him, and it seemed that Dean had picked up on this. He was trying desperately to hang on to her, he was attempting to be as chivalrous and attentive towards her as he possibly could. However instead of making her swoon, it irritated her to an astounding level.

Ginny had always been a very independent girl, she knew how to take care of herself and she didn't like it when others tried to do it for her. She had grown up with six older brothers, she was the only girl, and because of that she was tough and liked to do things on her own. So Dean's idea of romantic displays of chivalry, however well intended they might have been, fueled a burning temper inside her, that only worsened the growing rift between them.

One afternoon while Dean was walking Ginny to Charms, as they were headed down the stairs to the fourth floor, he noticed that she had a few heavy textbooks under her arm. Thinking this was a perfect opportunity to show her how much he wanted to make it up to her, to fix their relationship he smiled and said, "Ginny, why don't you let me carry your books for you."

"No, thank you Dean," Ginny said, as she rounded the corner.

"Aw, come on Gin, here let me take them from you," Dean replied, reaching down for them, but Ginny pulled them out of his reach and continued to walk. Her face was beginning to get hot, and she could feel frustration bubbling up in her stomach.

"Dean, I said no thank you."

Dean, who had not noticed the tone of irritation in her voice, grinned. He was not going to give up that easily.

"Please, m'lady, it would be my honour to carry your books to class for you," he said dipping into a bow. He reached for the books again and this time he grabbed them, Ginny however gripped them even tighter, and so he pulled hard on them. In a flash of pages the books went flying into the air and crashed to the floor, spilling the homework that Ginny had stuffed into them, everywhere.

Ginny whipped around and stood facing him, her eyes blazing with fury and her face flushed scarlet. The stupid grin that had come across Dean's face in embarrassment soon faded as she glowered at him.

"DEAN! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE! NOW ALL MY HOMEWORK IS MIXED UP! I AM PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF CARRYING MY OWN RUDDY BOOKS, YOU PRAT! I DIDN'T ASK FOR OR NEED YOUR HELP AND I MOST CERTAINLY DIDN'T WANT IT! NOW GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME BEFORE I HEX YOU!" Ginny screamed at him, several passing second-years stopped to gape at them. Dean cowered and bent down to try and help her pick up the scattered parchment. She slapped his hands away, and glared at him again.

"GO AWAY DEAN! JUST GO AWAY FROM ME!"

Dean stood up slowly, looking like a whipped puppy and walked away from her down the corridor.

As Ginny was angrily snatching up the mess on the floor, Professor McGonagall burst from her classroom, she looked up and down the corridor, when she spotted Ginny she put her hands on her hips and walked over to her in a huff.

"Miss Weasley!" McGonagall said.

Ginny looked up at the Professor towering over her and she felt her stomach sink.

"Was that your voice I heard, so rudely screaming right in front of my classroom?!"

"Yes, Professor," answered Ginny, her voice small.

"I am currently giving an exam to my third years and it is very difficult for them to concentrate when someone is shouting in the corridor! Five points from Gryffindor, and detention tonight," McGonagall scolded fiercely.

"But Professor I have Quidditch practice and the match for the House Cup is right around the corner," protested Ginny.

"Well, you should have thought of that before you lost your temper, Miss Weasley."

"You're right, I'm very sorry for disrupting your exam, Professor," sighed Ginny.

"Thank you, I appreciate your apology, but you must remember to be more considerate in the corridors. Now hurry along, you don't want to be late to your next lesson and risk anymore detentions." Ginny nodded, and with that Professor McGonagall hurried back into her classroom and closed the door behind her.

Ginny silently cursed herself and gathered the rest of her things before hurrying to Charms, to which she was very nearly late. As she took her seat, she sighed and felt another surge of anger toward Dean. She had been looking forward to practice all day, she needed a good ride on her broom, with all the studying she had to do lately, Quidditch practice was her one and only solace. She could mount her broom and rocket into the sky with nothing but the bludgers to worry about. Now instead of the carefree, wonderful paradise that was Quidditch, she had detention.

"Bollocks," she said quietly to herself as Professor Flitwick began the lesson.

Later as Ginny came out of the Charms classroom and out into the third floor corridor she heard someone calling her name. She turned to see Hermione walking toward her.

"Ginny, McGonagall told me to give this to you," said Hermione as she handed Ginny a small slip of parchment.

"Thanks," she said as she opened it up to see what her punishment for the evening was. "Detention with Slughorn," she sighed, "I suppose it could be worse."

"I guess that means you'll be missing Quidditch practice then," said Hermione trying to be sympathetic.

"Yeah, Harry's not going to be happy. I know he had something planned especially for the chasers tonight. Argh, why couldn't I have just kept my big mouth shut!" Ginny complained, as she and Hermione headed down to the Great Hall for dinner.

"I'm sure Harry, will understand. And even if he doesn't, it's not as if he's going to be angry at you for it, Ginny the World's Greatest Chaser can do no wrong in his eyes," Hermione said with a smirk.

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"What did you get detention for anyway?" Hermione asked, as they started down the marble staircase.

"I was shouting in the corridor in front of McGonagall's classroom, she was giving an exam and she was not happy that I interrupted."

"No, I imagine she was not. Why were you shouting?" Hermione inquired, her voice full of curiosity.

Ginny sighed.

"Dean set me off. He was trying to carry my books again, and this time he pulled them straight out of my arms," explained Ginny through gritted teeth.

"Oh I see," Hermione said quietly as she took a seat at the Gryffindor table.

"I know that he's just trying to be a gentleman, and attentive and whatever, but it just really gets under my skin. I'm not a child. I can open doors for myself, I like to choose my own seat, and I certainly can handle lifting a few textbooks on my own," Ginny said sitting down across from Hermione.

"Well, it could also be that you are," Hermione hesitated, "just a bit sensitive when it comes to Dean lately.

"I know I am. And it's not fair to him, but ever since that night we fought and he told me he loved me, I just feel annoyed with him all the time. And he's been really clingy, it's driving me mad!" Ginny explained as she piled boiled potatoes onto her plate.

"Well, maybe it's time to move on," Hermione replied.

"I've been thinking about that a lot lately, but I don't know. I just...we've been together quite a long time and," Ginny leaned in close and spoke in a low voice so that only Hermione could hear her, "he did tell me he loved me. I'd feel sort of guilty and a bit like a terrible person for ending it, as that's when things really started down hill."

"Well, I don't think you'd be a terrible person for it. I mean if you don't love him, then you don't love him. But if you don't even like him anymore, you need to tell him," said Hermione.

"You're right. I need a few days to think about it first, though," Ginny concluded, after taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"Hey Hermione, hey Ginny," said a voice from behind them. Ginny turned to see Harry, sitting down next to her.

"Hello Harry, where's Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Dunno, he jumped inside a broom cupboard to avoid Lavender in the corridor on our way down here. I reckon he should be along in a minute," said Harry as he began to reach for the steak and kidney pie.

"Harry, I've got some bad news," Ginny sighed, as she slowly dropped her fork.

"Yeah?" he said turning his full attention to her.

"I got detention, and I can't be at practice tonight," she waited with bated breath, hoping he wouldn't be too upset.

"Oh no! Well, that is a bit inconvenient as I was hoping to start work on a few new plays I designed for the chasers, but we'll manage, and," Harry grinned at her, "it's not as if I'm really one to talk. We all know I'm a detention magnet, and I've missed loads of practices because of it. What're you in for?"

Ginny laughed, it was true, Harry did tend to get quite a few detentions on his own. Especially if he had been in Snape's class.

"Well I sort of screamed at someone in the corridor, right in front of McGonagall's classroom. She wasn't pleased, and now I'm due for a night in the dungeons with Slughorn," Ginny explained.

"You screamed at someone? That famous temper of your's, eh?" said Harry, clearly amused.

"Yes, unfortunately, it got the best of me," she replied blushing a little.

"Well," he said, shrugging as he took a bite of his dinner, "I bet it won't be too terrible if it's with Slughorn. He obviously likes you."

"Yeah, I guess, but I'd still rather be at practice," Ginny sighed, just then Harry's arm accidentally brushed against her own, and she felt a tingling sensation shoot up it, as her stomach did a flip. Her eyes met Harry's, and she could see him shudder, as if he had felt it too. He grinned at her, it was that silly grin again.

"I would rather have you there with me too," he said softly as he gazed into her eyes for a brief moment. Then he shook himself out of it, pointedly looked back down at his plate and quickly said, "I-I mean with us, with the team, at practice."

Ginny looked up at Hermione, she had a knowing smirk spread wide across her face as she sipped from her goblet. She looked over at Harry again, he was shoveling food into his mouth at an alarmingly fast rate. Slowly she tore her gaze away from him trying not to think about what had just happened, and began to hastily finish her own meal, she didn't want to be late for detention. When she was done, she slung her bag over her shoulder, said goodnight to Harry and Hermione, and made Harry promise to be sure to fill her in on everything she missed at practice, before heading for the dungeons.

As Ginny walked through the corridors alone, she couldn't help but think of Harry's funny little smile, there was no denying that she thought that it was very attractive. Lately she had been thinking about how attractive he was, in general, quite a lot, far more often than usual. After she had gotten over her silly little crush on him years ago, Ginny avoided thinking about Harry as much as possible. Sure, there had been those moments here and there, when she would look at him and think 'Wow! Doesn't he look dashing?' but she would just leave it at that, it wouldn't linger. Now, it was definitely lingering, her arm was still tingling where Harry's had brushed against it a few minutes earlier, and Ginny just couldn't get that darn grin out of her head!

When she reached the Potions classroom, she pushed all thoughts of Harry out of her mind, and gently knocked on the door. Barely a second later, the door swung open and Professor Slughorn pulled her inside.

"Ginny, m'dear, so good to see you! How are you?" Slughorn boomed.

"Alright, I suppose," she said, wishing now more than ever that she could be headed down to the pitch instead of in detention.

"Ah, yes, I hear you've been getting into trouble, giving some fellow a piece of your mind a bit too boldly just outside Minerva's door, eh?" the Professor said as he winked at her. She nodded sheepishly. "Well, that's just what I like about you, m'dear, your fiery spirit! It was just the reason that when I heard Minerva saying that she had given you detention, I told her I had just the job for you!"

"What am I supposed to do for you, Professor?" Ginny asked, hoping that it wasn't anything too unpleasant.

"Ah, yes. Well, you see, it appears someone has been breaking into my personal stores, not very stealthily, I might add. They've made a terrible mess, and I need you to help me sort it out, so we can discover what's missing. Because as it is, I have no idea what they took, and there are quite a few substances in my stores that could be very dangerous if put in the wrong hands, you see."

Ginny nodded, as she followed him to the back of the classroom to a large cupboard in the far right corner of the room. It was indeed a mess, whoever had been in there must have been in quite a hurry, or they were just incredibly careless and stupid. All sorts of ingredients that, from the look of it, had previously been nicely organised into neat little jars, were now dumped out on the floor, dripping down the shelves, and generally just strewn about in chaos. Ginny sighed, it was going to be a long night.

"Now, Ginny, m'dear, what I'd like you to do is mop up all of the liquid that's been spilled, while I sort out the dry ingredients, and once we've finished with that, we'll put them all into new jars. Sound simple enough?" Slughorn explained with a smile.

Ginny nodded.

"Good, good, now why don't you go put on some dragon-hide gloves, just in case, and then we'll get started."

Ginny did as she was told, grabbed a cleaning rag, and began to mop up any moisture that she found. It took ages to dry everything off, and it seemed that in some places she would have to dry it two or three times before she was successful. Slughorn chattered away as they worked, boasting mostly about former, successful students, and sometimes about the adventures he had had as a young boy.

For most of the night, Ginny didn't really follow what he was saying as she cleaned, her mind was out on the Quidditch pitch, wondering if they were having a good practice or not. But when he began to speak about Gwenog Jones, captain of the Holyhead Harpies, Ginny's favourite Quidditch team, her ears perked up.

"Professor, you know Gwenog Jones?! The Gwenog Jones?!" she spluttered in shock.

Slughorn chuckled, and puffed out his chest proudly.

"Why yes, of course, m'dear! Surely you knew that? Why she was at my Christmas party, didn't you meet her?"

"What!? She was at the Christmas party! No, I didn't know! I can't believe I didn't meet her! Gwenog Jones is brilliant, she's just, well, amazing really," Ginny said, stunned. She searched her memory furiously and tried to remember what it was that she had been doing at Slughorn's Christmas party, instead of meeting Gwenog Jones. She sighed in frustration as it came back to her, she had been snogging Dean. She cursed herself, this day had just gotten worse and worse.

"Well, from what I hear Miss Weasley, you do pretty well on the Quidditch pitch yourself," said Slughorn, as he scooped up a few broken batwings and tossed them into the bin.

"I love Quidditch," said Ginny softly. "In fact, I'm missing practice right now, it's terrible."

Slughorn chuckled again.

"Yes, I've noticed that your mind was elsewhere, as I've been babbling on and on. I'm very sorry you had to miss practice. However, to make it up to you, how about I mention your name to dear Gwenog, and see if we can't get you to meet her after all?"

Ginny's jaw dropped open, and she accidentally dropped her cleaning rag.

"Do you mean it Professor? You would really do that?"

"Yes, of course. I'll send her an owl tomorrow and see what we can put together," he replied through hearty laughs. Ginny couldn't contain herself she did a happy little jig and shrieked with joy.

"Thank you sir, thank you so much," she said as she returned to her duties, she worked with much more enthusiasm after that, maybe detention wasn't so bad after all.

The work seemed to go much faster from then on, soon it looked as though they were just about finished. Slughorn asked Ginny to go to his desk and get his master list of ingredients so they could take an inventory of everything, to find out what was missing. Ginny went over to the desk and found the list immediately, but as she glanced at the rest of the desks contents something caught her eye.

A book was lying open on his desk and on the open page there was a photograph of three people. A man with hazel eyes hidden behind glasses and untidy black hair, he had his arm around a woman with long red hair and kind emerald eyes, she was holding a very tiny baby in her arms. Ginny leaned in closer to confirm her speculations. The woman in the photograph looked identical, except perhaps a bit older, to the girl from the reoccurring dream she'd been having. Her eyes jetted down to the caption beneath, and she devoured the words.

_"Lily and James Potter, with little Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, just 10 months before the historic night on which You-Know-Who vanished after his attempt to kill Harry, and Lily and James were found murdered."_

Ginny read it several more times before grabbing the book and the list and hurrying back into the store cupboard.

"Ah, Ginny, m'dear, there you are. Oh I see you found my copy of _Modern Magical History_, it's signed by the author. She was a student of mine, you see. I had it out to look up the section on modern advancements in potion making..." Slughorn began to explain as he looked over his master list that Ginny had just handed him.

"Professor, this picture, are these people really Lily and James Potter? Harry's parents? Do you know?" she blurted out. Professor Slughorn looked down at the photograph carefully, as his eye scanned it, a sadness came over his face.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. That's dear Lily and James. Terrible shame, you know, Lily was one of my favourites. A very bright young girl, full of life, and quick as a whip. Not unlike yourself, Ginny, indeed you do remind me of Lily in many ways," Slughorn said finally with a sad smile, returning to his list.

Ginny could hardly believe what she had just discovered, she was having dreams about Lily and James Potter! She hadn't recognized them at first, but now it made sense. They did seem familiar, and the boy had looked so much like Harry and the girl had had Harry's eyes. She now recalled how everyone who knew James and Lily would always tell Harry how much he looked like his father, except that he had his mother's eyes. But why in Merlin's name was she having dreams about Lily and James Potter? Wasn't that a bit odd? After all she hadn't known what they had looked like until just now, but she had recognized them from the dream first. How was it possible that she could dream about someone so vividly, if she had never even known what they looked like in the first place?

"Well, it seems I have accounted for everything but," Professor Slughorn began, as he made a final mark on his list, "my lacewing flies, leeches, bicorn horn, knotgrass, and boomslang skin. Hmm, isn't that interesting? It appears that someone is making Polyjuice potion. Miss Weasley, we have solved the mystery of What, but now it seems that the question is Who? Ginny?"

Ginny shook herself out of her racing thoughts.

"Yes, sir?"

"Are you alright, m'dear, you look a bit peaky?"

"I'm just a bit tired," she mumbled softly.

"Ah, yes of course. Well, look at the time it's nearly midnight! I think that your detention has been well served, why don't you scamper off to bed now, Ginny m'dear, and get some well deserved rest!" Slughorn said cheerfully.

"Thank you, have a good evening sir," Ginny replied as she picked her bag up and started to the door.

"You too, dear, goodnight."

Ginny's feet carried her through the corridors, as she tried to think of an explanation for why she was having dreams about Harry's parents. She turned it over and over in her head, but there was nothing that seemed to explain it well enough, for her to understand fully. Her mind was reeling.

She was surprised when she realised that she had arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady, it was well after curfew, and she had made it all the way up from the dungeons to the seventh floor without any sign of Flich, Mrs. Norris, or any prefects. She gave the Fat Lady the password and climbed through the portrait hole.

The common room was empty and the fire had almost completely died down. Ginny went straight up to her dormitory, slid into some pyjamas, and crawled into her four-poster. It wasn't until she laid her head on her pillow that she realised just how tired she was. Ginny was shocked at how quickly her mind emptied, she closed her eyes, and within seconds she was asleep.

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Ginny was out on the grounds again, in the same bright, warm sunshine, and the grass was that familiar shade of intense green. She looked out and saw the blinding reflection of the sun coming off of the Black Lake.

Instantly she knew, she was having the dream again. Her eyes darted to they couple beneath the Oak tree near the lake, she felt the curiosity inside her build. Soon she found herself directly in front of them, once again they looked at her in surprise. The boy grinned. The girl's green eyes met Ginny's and she felt the tenderness in the girl's gaze, she smiled and said,

"Hello, Ginny."

But this time, the dream did not end here, this time Ginny knew who they were, this time Ginny spoke to them.

"You're Lily and James Potter, you're Harry's parents," Ginny replied, without thinking.

Lily nodded, and she beamed at Ginny. Ginny saw triumph dance across Lily's face.

"I'm glad you figured it out, I was beginning to worry I'd only ever get to say hello to you," said Lily simply.

"Why are you here? I don't understand," Ginny asked, she was burning with curiosity. She wanted desperately to know why there were here. Why weren't they with Harry in his dreams? How did they know her name?

Lily smiled warmly again.

"You'll soon find out, Ginny, I promise. But you must be patient, don't lose hope. You'll soon understand."


	3. Somewhere Between Beginnings and Endings

**Author's Note: **Thank you to those of you who have read the story, and thank you even more to the two of you who have reviewed it. It's always great to get feedback. I have two more chapters already written and am working on the chapter that will take place on the day of the House Cup Match. ;) As always, enjoy and review if you feel so inclined. :)

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The following morning Ginny awoke with Lily's words still echoing inside her mind. Ginny stretched her arms above her head, and rolled over onto her side in her four-poster. _"You'll soon find out, Ginny, I promise. But you must be patient, don't lose hope. You'll soon understand."_

It was so cryptic. Ginny sighed in frustration, she had a feeling that she was going to continue to have this dream quite a few more times. And it appeared that it wasn't going to reveal it's purpose until she knew, whatever it was, that she was supposed to know.

Ginny arched her back and stretched again, swung her legs out of bed, got up, and dressed quickly. After freshening up, she left the dormitories and went down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

When she reached the Gryffindor table, she saw it wasn't very crowded yet. She had awoken a little earlier than she normally did on Saturdays, and was pleased to find that it was very calm in the Hall at this hour. A little chatter could be heard among the scattered early risers, but it wasn't nearly as loud as usual. Ginny smiled, she was looking forward to eating her breakfast and reading the Daily Prophet in a bit of peace.

She sat there for several minutes, silently eating, and reading with a soft smile across her face. Then she felt a light tap on the shoulder and turned around to see Dean standing behind her, looking solemn.

"Hey, Ginny," he said, sitting down next to her.

"Morning, Dean," she greeted shortly, as she returned her eyes back to the Daily Prophet.

"Ginny, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for what happened in the corridor yesterday, I was being stupid. I just wanted you to know that I really care about you, and I was trying to be helpful. But I guess I was just being too pushy," said Dean.

Ginny looked up at him, she felt the familiar feeling of annoyance bubble inside her, but she pushed it down because she could see that he truly felt bad about what had happened.

"I appreciate your apology, and I understand that you were just trying to be nice, but I hate it when you push passed me to pull out a chair or run me over just so you can open a door for me, and I really, really don't like it when you try to carry my books," Ginny explained.

"I was just trying to show you that I care, my mum always said that when you mess up, chivalry is the best way to make it up to a girl. I guess she was wrong," he said with a smile.

"No, I-I don't think she was wrong. Some girls really go for that sort of thing, I'm just not one of them," Ginny replied, with a small, forced laugh.

"Yeah, I think I've figured that out," said Dean, chuckling a little himself.

An uneasy silence edged between them, after a moment of trying to come up with something to say she gave up and went back to the article she had been reading.

"So, ...I missed you at practice last night," he said fishing for something to keep the conversation going.

'Yeah because you got me into bloody detention!' screamed a voice inside Ginny's head. She bit her lip, to prevent herself from saying it aloud, then took a deep breath.

"Yes, well I wish I could have been there as well," Ginny chose to say instead, "but at least we have another one this afternoon. How'd it go?"

"Dunno. Alright I guess, we tried out some new plays. But they were sort of confusing," Dean said, shrugging.

"Oh, well did they work?" Ginny asked.

He shrugged again, as he poured pumpkin juice into his goblet.

"Not really," Dean responded, before taking a drink.

There was silence again. Ginny couldn't help but think that sitting there with him was incredibly uncomfortable. She couldn't think of anything else to say, not that he had given her much to go on. The conversation was now dead. So for the next twenty or so minutes they sat next to each other, in painfully awkward silence, munching away on their breakfasts and trying to pretend that it wasn't weird. When Dean was finished he stood up and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll see you later. I'm going to go get Seamus, we have some potions homework to finish," he said quickly, Ginny nodded, and with that he left. After he was out of sight Ginny exhaled in relief, and immediately she felt more comfortable.

A moment after Dean was gone, Harry walked into the Great Hall. When he saw her his eyes opened a little wider, he flashed her a very large smile, and hurried over to her. Her stomach did a flip again and she felt a wide smile appear on her own lips.

"Good morning Ginny," he said, still grinning as he sat down next to her, "How are you?"

"I'm alright, thanks," Ginny answered.

"So I must inform you, you missed a great practice. The best we've had all year. The best I've ever had actually," Harry told her enthusiastically.

"Oh no! Really?" said Ginny, as her heart sank with disappointment. Harry tried to keep a straight face but after a moment he laughed.

"No, not really. It was rubbish, actually," Harry explained. "Ron was off again, and Demelza and Dean looked at me like I was mad when I tried to explain my new plays. Then when I made them try it out anyway, they just flew in opposite directions. It was awful."

Ginny let out a giggle.

"It was all because _I_ wasn't there," Ginny said with a mischievous little smirk, "you see, what I haven't told you is that I confunded the entire team last night before I went to the dungeons, just so I wouldn't miss any of the fun."

"Did you now? I should have _known_!" Harry said in an overly surprised voice as he chuckled.

"So, I really didn't miss anything good then?" Ginny asked, now serious again.

Harry shook his head, as he filled his plate.

"No, I'm going to have to explain everything all over again today and hope that it makes more sense, the second go round."

"Well, why don't you try to tell it to me, maybe I can understand it, or if not, I can just confirm that you really are mad," suggested Ginny.

"Couldn't hurt," said Harry with a shrug. He then proceeded to explain it to her for the next few minutes. As he spoke, Ginny thought of how it was sort of adorable the way he used his arms dramatically to demonstrate how each player should fly. When he was finished, Ginny understood perfectly, she hadn't thought it confusing at all.

"So tell me does it make any sense?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Yes actually, it makes perfect sense to me. And I think it's brilliant Harry! It's sort of like a Wronski Feint for chasers, right?" Ginny said.

"Exactly! That's exactly right! Do you think you could do it?" He said, she could hear the excitement in his voice.

"I don't see why not. I mean of course we might have to practise it quite a few times before we got it just right, but I certainly think that it's possible, risky, but possible," she said, thinking about how excited she was herself to try it out.

"What's Quidditch without a little danger? It's a relief to know that I'm not mad," said Harry, as he did, Ginny saw Ron and Hermione walk over and sit down across from them.

"I never said you weren't a nutter. I merely stated that I understood your play," Ginny said coyly.

"Oh, I see how it is, Miss Weasley. Well, if that's the case, you must be a nutter too," Harry said, rolling his eyes but grinning broadly.

"Morning, Harry, Ginny," Ron said, as he wasted no time in piling his plate with any, and all of the food within his reach.

"Morning," both Ginny and Harry responded in unison. They looked at each other and smiled in embarrassment.

"Well you two seemed to be carrying on quite well, don't you?" Hermione observed, there was something in her voice that gave Ginny the sudden urge to chuck a fork at her head.

"I was just telling Ginny about Quidditch practice, Hermione. We were discussing tactics," Harry said quickly glancing at Ron, who was paying absolutely no attention as he shoveled in mounds and mounds of food hastily.

For a moment, all three were distracted and became lost in amazement at just how rapidly Ron was eating, all the while his eyes flicking nervously toward the entrance to the Hall.

"Ron, I told you, Lavender was still asleep when I left the dormitory this morning. She and Parvarti stayed up very late gossiping and giggling, she won't be up for a long time. So you can stop eating like it's your last meal, it's really quite disgusting!" sighed Hermione in exasperation.

"Oo...neber...noh...when...see...migh...so...ub!" reasoned Ron between bites. He reached his hand out to grab for his goblet, however, since he wasn't paying attention, his hand found a pitcher of syrup instead, he began to pull it to his lips.

"Ron! That's not your pumpkin juice, it's-" Hermione warned, but it was too late he had taken a very large gulp of the sticky substance, "-the syrup..."

In his surprise, he jumped and spilled it all down his front.

"Ugh!" Ron shrieked, as partially chewed bits of his breakfast came rocketing out of his mouth.

"Honestly, Ron!" said Hermione.

She shook her head, pretending to be frustrated, but Ginny knew better, she saw the glint of pure amusement and adoration in her friend's eyes. Hermione gave a lazy flick of her wand, and the syrup all over Ron, disappeared.

"Fanks...my-oh-nee," Ron said, grinning through his chipmunk like cheeks.

Ginny watched as the corner of Hermione's mouth twitched upward, and she rolled her eyes. Ginny knew very well that Hermione was nothing short of ecstatic to be back on friendly terms with Ron again, especially so, because he no longer wanted anything to do with Lavender.

"Are you done with that Ginny," Harry asked nodding toward the Daily Prophet.

"Oh, yeah I am, here," she said handing it to him.

"Thanks," he replied as he opened the newspaper.

"Well, as much as I'd love to sit here and watch my dear brother stuff his face at lightning speed, I've got some homework to catch up on," Ginny said as she got up from the table. "See you later, Harry, Hermione, Ron you pig."

"Yeah, see you at practice Ginny, I can't wait to see what you do with the new play, maybe we'll name it the Weasley Feint, you know after you, because you're so brilliant," Harry blurted out dreamily. As soon as the words had left his lips, he grimaced at the ridiculousness of them, then hid quickly behind the Prophet.

"Ok Harry, we'll see," Ginny said, as she tried desperately to contain the laughter that was on the verge of exploding out of her. She saw that Hermione was also suppressing hysterics.

She knew that she had to escape before she met Hermione's eyes, so she bolted toward the door. As soon as she was out of the Great Hall, Ginny let her laughter escape. That silly dreamy voice, topped with that goofy grin, it was simply too much! When she reached the common room, she was still smiling every now and again. Maybe, she thought, Hermione and Dean were right... No, Harry was just impressed with her skills as a chaser.

For the rest of the morning Ginny cheerfully worked on her Charms essay, and when it came time to get her broom and head down to the pitch, she was surprised at how much she had accomplished, it was nearly done. Ginny dipped her quill into the ink and hastily scratched out the final sentence, before packing her things, and hurrying up to the dormitories.

Once she was changed, and had her broom resting proudly over her shoulder, Ginny started down to the pitch. After making her way down the marble staircase however, she found herself cornered in the Entrance Hall by Lavender Brown.

"Ginny, have you seen my Won Won?!" Lavender demanded desperately.

"Not since breakfast," Ginny groaned, "but I reckon your 'Won Won' is probably down at the pitch by now." Ginny tried to sidestep around her, but Lavender suddenly grabbed hold of Ginny's arm, quite firmly.

"Tell me was-was _she_ with him!?"

"If by 'she' you mean Hermione, then yeah, she was with him like always," said Ginny simply.

"Like always?" Lavender shrieked. "She only likes him now because he was poisoned!"

"Are you mad? She's always liked him. They've been best friends since first year," Ginny said, wondering if Lavender was really thick enough to actually believe that Hermione really didn't like Ron.

"Best friends! HA! What sort of best friends argue as much as they do?" laughed Lavender scarily.

"The sort that are secretly in love with each other," Ginny responded. And luckily, because Lavender was so stupidly shocked upon hearing these words, Ginny was finally able to wrestle her wrist from Lavender's grip.

"Nn-no, he's-he's not! He loves me, he'll choose me! I'm his girlfriend!" spluttered Lavender. Ginny sighed, she almost felt sorry for the poor girl, almost.

"Look, Lavender, apparently no one has had the decency to tell you this, or if someone has, you just haven't listened to them properly," explained Ginny. "But if you try to make Ron choose between you and Hermione, you're not the one who's going to win. I can promise you that. So you might as well try to coexist with her, Hermione's not going anywhere."

Lavender looked as though she was on the verge of tears, and Ginny seeing this, quickly darted out of the large oak doors. Comforting her brother's ridiculous girlfriend, was not something she was willing to be too late to practice for. She was generally a very compassionate person, but at that moment she was just not in the mood to console Lavender.

When Ginny reached the pitch, she could see Harry from afar, he was waving his arms enthusiastically, as Dean and Demelza watched him, dumbstruck. She smiled, Harry was obviously attempting, and failing, to explain his play to them again. Ritchie and Jimmy were already up in the air training with the practice bludgers. She jogged over to the other chasers, and when Harry set eyes on her, relief flooded his expression.

"Ginny! Hey there, Merlin, am I glad to see you!" He said as she joined them.

"Sorry, Lavender cornered me in the Great Hall. She's desperate for any information concerning the whereabouts of my prat brother," Ginny explained. Harry nodded sympathetically, she knew that Lavender had been pestering him about Ron too.

"Who are you calling a prat!?" came Ron's voice from behind her. Ginny whipped around and scowled at him.

"You! I know that you're just fine avoiding Lavender like a bloody coward, but the rest of us are suffering the consequences of her crazy desperation," Ginny stepped closer to him. Even though Ginny was a head shorter than her brother, he shrunk as she glowered at him. "Ronald Weasley, I swear to you, if you don't talk to her by tomorrow night I'll hex off your bits!"

"Alright, alright! Merlin! I'll talk to her," Ron squeaked, as his hand slowly slid down to his lower region in protection. Without taking his eyes off the wand protruding form Ginny's pocket, he quickly mounted his broom and shot up to his position in front of the posts.

When he was out of earshot, Dean, Harry, and Demelza let out fits of laughter.

"Well, someone had to set him straight, Lavender is driving all of us mad,"said Ginny with a small grin when their laughter had died down.

"Speaking of things that are mad, Harry, I just don't think that this new play is going to work. I just really don't understand it," said Demelza, shrugging.

"Well, I do think it's going to work," Harry said firmly. "Ginny understands it too, right?" His voice was unsure, as if somehow their conversation at breakfast hadn't really happened. She smiled at him and nodded.

"Really?" said Dean, obviously skeptical.

"Yeah, I do, and I think if we get it right, it could be the extra edge that helps us to win the house cup," Dean and Demelza stared at her in shock. Harry beamed.

"Well, if you think it's so wonderful then why don't you two show us just how it works," Dean said with a tinge of jealousy in his voice. "But, as for me and Demelza, we think it's nutters, and can't be done." Ginny narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fine, we will. Won't we, Harry?" she responded fervently.

"Won't we what?" asked Harry, looking very uncomfortable.

"We'll show them how it's done," Ginny stated determinedly.

"Uh-well I don't know Ginny. I-I mean, I'm more of a seeker-" Harry began to stammer. Ignoring his protests, Ginny picked up his Firebolt, which had been laying on the ground next to his feet, and fiercely handed it to him.

"Well, from what I remember of our Quidditch this summer at the Burrow, you weren't a bad chaser," she reassured him with a warm but challenging smile. "I'll do the feint, all you have to do is follow the flight pattern and then catch the quaffel when I throw it to you. It's not really all that different from seeking."

Harry smiled softly, and in his emerald eyes Ginny could see admiration as he looked at her.

"Alright, let's do it." Harry said as he took his Firebolt from her. A moment later he had mounted it, kicked off, and was waiting for Ginny twenty meters above.

Ginny picked up the quaffel, got on her broom, and before joining Harry in the air, she shot Dean a glare.

As soon as she felt the rush of air running through her hair, it was ecstasy. When she reached Harry, she smiled at him and he nodded. They sped off down the pitch toward Ron and the goal post. Ginny and Harry quickly reached top speed, and began to zig-zag over and under each other, whilst passing the quaffel back and forth, in a rhythmic pattern. Ron and the rest of the team watched in awe and confusion as they raced toward the posts.

When they were three-fourths of the way to the goals, while Harry continued to zig-zag, Ginny leaned in closer to the handle of her broom, with the quaffel tucked firmly under her arm, and suddenly sped straight toward the center hoop. Ginny saw Ron fly his broom and take a defensive position in front of it, his attention completely focused on her. Ginny smiled, the play was working.

She sped faster and faster toward the goal post, she could see Ron's face becoming concerned. Soon she was only meters from him, and showed no signs of stopping. Ron braced himself for an impact as it appeared that Ginny was going to fly right into him. But then, at the very last moment Ginny pulled her broom up, avoiding collision, then gracefully threw the quaffel to Harry, who was now waiting in front of the left side goal post, which was completely unguarded. Harry caught the ball with ease and lobbed it through the empty hoop.

Ron looked dumbfounded. He was still trying to process what had happened. Harry whooped with joy and Ginny cried out as well. They flew back down to Dean and Demelza and once they reached the ground Harry ran to Ginny and threw his arms around her.

"You did it! And on the first go!" he shouted, before quickly letting go of her as Ron landed beside them.

"That was bloody brilliant, Harry! What a play! And Merlin, Ginny, where did you learn to fly like that?" said Demelza in amazement.

Ginny flushed and shrugged her shoulders.

"So you understand it now then, Demelza, and you too Dean?" Harry asked enthusiastically.

"I guess so. I mean yeah, it's a good play," Dean said slowly as though the words tasted terrible.

"Right then, so all of you get it yeah?" Harry asked, the chasers nodded, "Brilliant! There are still kinks we need work out, it's got to be perfected for that house match. Let's get in the air then, shall we?

Once everyone had mounted their brooms, a long, hard, and altogether wonderful practice began. Everyone was on their game and the entire team was having a blast. Even Dean, who had moped for the first part, was enjoying himself by the end of it. Ginny was glowing with happiness as she and Dean made their way back up to the castle, to get changed before dinner. Ginny loved Quidditch, there wasn't anything else that made her feel as complete and full of life.

The blissful feelings that practice had given her soon faded, as she and Dean once again had very little to say to each other the rest of the evening. They ate together in silence and when she was finished Ginny escaped to the library. She had a very long list of books that she needed to collect, all for further studying for the O.W.L.s.

After about an hour of searching, she had retrieved all the books she needed, and was a little overwhelmed at the small tower she had just assembled. Once they had been stamped by a disapproving Madam Pince, Ginny somehow managed to slide the entire stack into her arms. Unfortunately, the mound of books was so tall, that she could hardly see around it. Ginny inhaled deeply, and took her first few steps on what she knew would be the long and painful journey to the common room.

Almost as soon as she began moving, the books wobbled dangerously in her arms. She braced herself, and tried to steady them, but they started to tip, and it was obvious they would soon crash to the floor. Ginny closed her eyes and hoped the noise wouldn't be too loud, but instead of hearing pages and covers smashing into the ground, she heard the sound of a chair scraping against the stone floor. The books did not fall. Surprised, Ginny opened her eyes, and saw Harry steadying the books with one hand.

"Harry, where did you come from?" Ginny said in astonishment. He smiled sheepishly.

"I was sitting over there writing my potions essay," Harry nodded his head to indicate a table nearby, "I looked over and saw a massive tower of books tipping over, so I leapt up to help. I didn't know it was you. Honestly Gin, I think you may be spending far too much time with Hermione. Are you planning on taking the whole library to the common room with you?"

Harry flashed her a devilish grin, and despite having just been rescued from dropping all of her books, Ginny had an animal like urge to throw them aside so she could attack Harry with her lips. But she shook that thought away as quickly as she could. She did still have a boyfriend...

"Ha ha, very funny Harry," Ginny replied trying to sound sarcastic, "cheekiness aside, I appreciate your help. Thank you."

"Anytime. Er-Ginny, can I take some of those off your hands, I'm headed to the common room too." Harry asked.

Ginny's heart sank, was Harry a chivalrous prat too?

"I'm perfectly capable of managing all on my own. I can handle this," she said a bit defensively as she began to walk away from him.

"I know you can handle it. You're sort of brilliant like that, you do everything you set your mind to. What was it you told me last year? Anything's possible if you've got the nerve, right?" Harry said with full confidence, piercing eye contact, and a sweet smile.

"Right," Ginny said softly as she smiled back at him, her heart swelling with warmth. She could hardly believe that he remembered that she had told him that, it had been so long ago.

"But, as you can barely see around that mountain of literature," Harry continued, "I thought I might just take a few of them for you, so you could see where you're going, would that be alright?"

For a moment she was speechless, all she could do was look at him in awe. Before she had even thought about it she was nodding, and Harry took the books that were blocking her line of sight from her.

"There, now you won't go walking into any walls, and I won't have to find a substitute chaser," said Harry jokingly.

"Oh, so the safety of the house team was your ulterior motive for helping me?" replied Ginny.

"Of course it was, do you think McGonagall would have made me Captain, if Quidditch wasn't the motive behind everything I do?"

They started out of the library together, both grinning foolishly. They joked and laughed all the way up to the seventh floor corridor.

"So all of these are for your O.W.L.s ?" Harry asked as they stopped in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Yes, all the studying is getting to be quite ridiculous actually," Ginny said, as she did, the hair that she had tucked behind her ear fell out in front of her eyes. She sighed in frustration, and tried several times to blow the flyaway hair out of her face to no avail. Harry chuckled, she looked quite absurd.

"This is what I get, for growing my hair so long! I should really just chop it all off!"

"No you shouldn't, I like your long hair. Here, let me," Harry said, as he reached out and slowly tucked the stray hair safely behind her ear again. As he did so his fingertips lightly brushed against her cheek, Ginny shuddered and something like a chill went shooting down her spine. Their eyes locked, their breathing slowed, and somehow their bodies began to move closer to one another. Ginny felt her lips begin to quiver with desire...

"Well, are you two going to stand there all night long, or are you going to give me the password so I can get some sleep!?" said the Fat Lady impatiently, abruptly shaking Ginny and Harry out of their stolen moment.

"Uh-right. Sorry, jobberknoll," Harry said quickly taking a step away from Ginny.

The Fat Lady sighed irritably, as she swung open and let them into the common room.

"Where would you like me to put your books, Gin?" asked Harry once they were inside.

"Yes, Gin, where shall Harry put your books?" said a voice vicious with disdain, from an armchair near the fire.

"Oh," Ginny said in surprise, "hello Dean!"

"Hey Dean," said Harry kindly, as Dean emerged from the chair with a burning scowl branded across his face.

Dean did not respond. For a time Ginny and Harry stood, still holding the books, blinking awkwardly at each other, while Dean glowered at them.

"Why don't you put them over there on that table, Harry? Thanks," said Ginny finally, sensing trouble. Harry nodded, and perhaps because he too was feeling the tension, he put the books down hastily and hurried to the stairs leading up to the boy's dormitory.

"Well...er... I really should be getting to bed now. Night, Dean, Ginny," he said over his shoulder as he went up to bed.

Dean hadn't taken his eyes off Ginny. She had never seen him this angry before.

"Your books? He was carrying your books?!" Dean spat dangerously.

"Yes, but not all of them, just a few, so I could see where I was going," she answered quietly, "it was...circumstantial. I know what it looked like, but really it wasn't-"

"Oh I'm sure was perfectly innocent," said Dean sarcastically, his hands waving wildly, "it's always just circumstantial with Harry, isn't it? He can be a chivalrous prat but I can't? You know what, I don't even want to hear the excuse. I'm tired of the excuses. I'm off to bed."

Dean turned angrily and started toward the stairs. As she watched him go Ginny felt a strange, overwhelming, rush of sadness come over her. She could see how hurt he was, and it made her feel terrible. Dean had been her first serious boyfriend, she cared about him very much.

Ginny was suddenly very aware that the end of their relationship was in sight, and a small burst of fear filled her up. Being with Dean had been so easy for a while, it had been so comfortable. To think that the simplicity and contentment of that was now gone, made her want to grasp onto what once was.

She quickly followed him up the stairs, when Dean heard her behind him he stopped and turned to face her. The sadness in his eyes reflected what Ginny was feeling inside. Impulsively, Ginny kissed him. It was an attempt to close the gap, to break down the wall. To see if somehow, they could be as close in that moment as they had been when things were good.

However, it was no use, the spark was gone. No matter how much Ginny wanted her feelings to come racing back, they didn't. It was the gloomiest kiss she had ever had. Yet, she still wasn't ready to let go.

"Dean, you're right, I've been so hard on you lately. I haven't been being fair. I'm sorry," she said sincerely.

"It's not even really worth trying anymore, Ginny," Dean said softly, "I've got to stop prolonging the inevitable, and just face it. My feelings for you are a lot stronger than your feelings for me."

Ginny looked into his eyes and she could feel his heart breaking. It was awful.

"Why don't we give it a day? We can go to sleep, start fresh, and both try our best tomorrow. If by the end of it, it's still not working well then we can go from there. What do you think?" suggested Ginny.

"What's one day going to change?" Dean said simply.

"One day can change the world, Dean. You just have to work at it," said Ginny confidently.

"Alright, whatever," said Dean obviously not convinced, "I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight."

"Night," Ginny responded, as he went into his dormitory.

Ten minutes later she was laying in her own four-poster, thinking about how utterly confused she was about all of her feelings.

On one hand, she was ready to end her relationship with Dean. There were so many reasons why she should break it off with him. She didn't love him, and the longer they were together, Dean's hurt feelings would just keep getting deeper. She could no longer have a decent conversation with him anymore. Of course there was the Harry factor hanging in the balance as well. Her feelings for the Boy-Who-Lived were...different, than they had been a few weeks ago. Breaking up with Dean would leave her free to explore them further...

But on the other hand, it was hard for her to imagine what not being with Dean would be like. She wasn't sure that it would make things easier. She was afraid of being lonely. Regardless of whether or not she was with Dean, she would always consider him one of her best friends. What if when they broke up, she lost him as not only a boyfriend, but as just a friend too? As she drifted off to sleep, she felt as though she were hanging in limbo between life with Dean and life without him.

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"Hello again Ginny, " said Lily, with the warm smile that Ginny had come to know so well in her dreams.

"Hello, Mrs. Potter," Ginny sighed, as she realised that she was once again inside her never ending dream.

"Oh please, call me Lily, I think that a first name basis is in order between you and I," Lily said kindly.

"Why should we be on a first name basis?" asked Ginny, feeling confused.

"Well we have met quite a few times here, haven't we," said Lily, "and I don't think that this will be the last."

"No probably not," Ginny sighed. "It's a bit mad, isn't it? Having dreams about one of your friend's dead parents. I mean, don't you think that's a bit strange?"

"You tell me, Ginny, is it strange?" Lily said with another smile

"Do you always have to be so bloody cryptic?!" said Ginny in frustration.

"For now, yes." Lily laughed softly.

"Why?"

"Because this is your dream, Ginny, only you can discover why you're having the dream. You just need to think about it. The answer is waiting."


	4. Being Ginny Again

**Author's note: **I'm very pleased that so many of you are enjoying the story! This new chapter, well, it's not my favourite... I think in writing all of the relationship trouble Ginny was having with I was getting pretty sick of him too. This one is a little shorter as a result. It was necessary to move the plot forward.

However, I think I'll also post the next chapter today too, because that one probably _is _my favourite so far. Also, for those of you wondering, yes Ginny's time with Lily will get a bit longer in the future. But I'm saving that for a time when Ginny really needs some very important guidance.

As always review if you like. So without further ado...

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Ginny awoke feeling frustrated, she stretched her arms above her head and sighed heavily. Her body was tired from practice last night, and she wanted nothing more than to just stay hidden underneath the duvet, all day long. But, the promise she had made to Dean the night before edged its way back into her thoughts, and so somewhere she found the will to get out from under the covers. She told herself that she today she was going to do her best to keep that promise.

However, her efforts turned out to be anything but what Ginny had hoped for. She thought that her conversation with Dean the previous night, would have given him a bit of hope that they were on the mend. Unfortunately his outlook had only worsened and he had now shut down completely.

The whole morning, Ginny had tried very hard to make him feel better, she joked with him and had been trying her best to be kind and attentive to him. She'd slipped her hand into his as the walked through the corridors, only to have him pull away. She asked him questions about muggle football, a subject Dean was normally always more than willing to talk about, but not today. He told her that it was "all too complicated to explain and you just wouldn't understand".

All of it seemed to be of absolutely no use, as he barely spoke to her. To make matters worse, anytime she would pass Seamus Finnegan in the corridors or in the common room he would glare at Ginny as if she had just intentionally stomped the life out of a pygmy puff.

At lunch, Ginny tried to make friendly conversation. Dean contributed only head nods and one word answers. She could feel the irritation beginning to boil up in her blood. She was running out of ideas for new approaches, and she knew her breaking point was drawing near.

When her free period came round, she decided that she needed a break, an hour alone to regroup. She found that she was very tense, she was frustrated with Dean, and was finding it very difficult not to be angry with him. Why couldn't he just try? She was trying her ruddy arse off! And it made no difference to him. It seemed apparent that her attempt at a fresh start had made no effect on Dean's outlook at all.

As she opened her Herbology book underneath her favourite oak tree near the Black Lake, she tried to clear her mind of all ill-natured thoughts toward Dean.

"Hey there, Ginny."

She turned to see Harry walking toward her.

"Oh hi, Harry," she replied.

"Is it alright if I join you?" he asked politely.

"Sure," she said instantly, but after thinking about it for a moment, she reconsidered, if Dean saw her sitting with Harry...

"Um-actually, Harry, you know, I should probably focus on my studying... alone. So...I can't really talk right now," His face fell, and he looked down at his toes.

"Oh-right, yeah, sure. You're busy, sorry, I didn't mean to bother you," said Harry quickly as he turned to walk away.

The look on his face made Ginny feel as though she really had squashed a pygmy puff.

"Harry, it wasn't a bother," she called to him as he began to walk away. He stopped and turned his head toward her. "It's just-well- I'm trying to concentrate...and to be honest I'm not really myself today, I don't think I'd be very good company, sorry."

"It's alright, I get it. I hope you figure it all out, so you can get back being yourself tomorrow. I like _you_, when you're _you_... Good luck with the Herbology," he said with a stunning smile.

As she watched him leave, the weight of Harry's words hit her. All day she'd been trying to be someone else to make things right with Dean. Why should it matter if she sat with Harry under the oak tree, and did her revising? She could be friends with whoever she wanted, and Dean should trust her to be faithful. Dean didn't control her, no one did. Ginny was her own person, and she could do as she pleased. The more she thought about it, she realised that she had been tiptoeing around Dean's emotions for months now. She'd been modifying herself just to shut him up or to keep another row at bay. She was not she was proud of it.

What she and Dean once had together was no longer there. They had evolved into new people, and there was no going back. Ginny then resolutely decided that she wasn't going to pretend that any longer. She would break up with Dean the next time she was alone with him. It wasn't healthy holding onto something that no longer existed, just to stay within the comfort of normality.

Later that evening as she ate dinner in the Great Hall, Ginny sat next to Dean but she did not try to engage him in trivial conversation, she just went about her business, as if it were any other night. She chatted pleasantly with Hermione, and paid no attention to Seamus when he shot her glares from across the table. By the time she was finished with dinner, she decided that she would stop by the library to return some Charms books that she was finished with. Without a word, she got up from the Gryffindor table and began to make her way toward the entrance hall.

"Can I walk with you, I want to talk," Dean said quite seriously, from behind her. She turned around to see him standing behind her. It was the most he had spoken to her all day, and she was a bit surprised.

"Alright," Ginny agreed, "but I need to stop by the library to return some books."

Despite his sudden urge to talk they walked in silence, he appeared to be deep in thought, Ginny sighed and stopped off at the Library. He was still silent as she made her way to the seventh floor, he just followed. When they were just outside the portrait of the Fat Lady Dean seemed to find the words for which he'd been searching.

"I'm sorry, I've been a complete prat all day. You've been trying so hard to be kind to me, and I've done nothing but pout. Can we start over?" he asked hopefully.

Ginny turned to face him, she looked at him.

"You know Dean, I don't really think I want to start over, again."

He blinked at her for a moment, as if this had not been the answer that he'd been expecting.

"What are you saying, Gin?"

"Well, I've been doing a lot of serious thinking about our relationship today, and honestly I think it's just time that we ended this," she replied slowly. Dean looked as though someone had just stunned him.

"All because I was in a foul mood today?"

"No, it's not just because of that. It's because this just isn't working anymore, can't you see that?"

"I know that it's been...different, but isn't there some way we can fix this, please?" he asked softly.

Ginny sighed, he was not going to make this easy on her. However, she knew that she had to remain firm. There was no going back now.

"Dean I'm very sorry, but I just don't see any way for this to get better. We irritate each other, we can hardly have a comfortable conversation anymore, and it's really not healthy for us to keep it up the way things are. I don't like the person I am when I'm with you Dean. You'll always be very dear to me, but I think it's for the best if we both go our separate ways."

Dean sighed deeply, his eyes traveled to his feet, and his body began to stiffen. His expression was cold.

"I guess Seamus was right," he mumbled to himself bitterly.

"Right about what, exactly?" Ginny asked.

"Well, he told me that I should have given up on you after I told you that I loved you, and you didn't say it back. I told him that I thought you'd come around eventually...but now I think maybe he was right, you don't give a damn about me. Maybe you are heartless" he spat at her.

Ginny knew that he was upset and that she should probably just let it go, but on second thought, he'd been a complete arse to her all day. What reason did she have now to hold back? She couldn't think of one. So she glared at him as she felt her face heat up, and finally she let the cork that had been stuffed in her mouth today burst out.

"I am not heartless! How can you say that!? For your bloody information, you stupid git, I have been trying very hard to mend this ruddy relationship! You've been so jealous, so stubborn, and so completely unresponsive to any of the things that I've done to make you feel more secure, that I am at my wit's end!"

"If you had been anyone else and were treating me the way you have been lately, you would have had a face full of bat bogies so fast that you wouldn't have had time to even blink! And no, I don't love you, love is a very complicated emotion, that doesn't just happen because you want it to. Just because I didn't swoon and praise Merlin, the moment the words left your lips does not mean that I am incapable of love. It means that I had respect enough for your feelings, to be honest with you about mine!"

"You should be glad that at least I was completely straight forward with you, and didn't lead you on! However, it appears you have the maturity and emotional range of a flobberworm! So, yes I am breaking up with you. And you can run along and tell dear Seamus whatever you like about me, but it will not change the fact that you too, had a part in bringing this relationship to an end, you prat!" Ginny was nose to nose with him when she finished, her body was shaking with fury. Her hand was clenched tightly around her wand and she was desperately trying to hold back the urge to hex him.

Judging by just how wide Dean's eyes were, she knew that he was already regretting his earlier statements. Though she knew it was probably wrong, the fear she could see in his gaze, gave her quite a lot of satisfaction.

"Well, you've certainly put him in his place, my dear," said the Fat Lady as she studied Dean, "he looks as though he might wet himself."

If she hadn't been quite so angry Ginny might have found the Fat Lady's comment entertaining, but as it was she just wanted to go up to her dormitory and be alone.

"Jobberknoll," she said curtly. The Fat Lady, who was still obviously finding Dean's expression humorous, swung forward between giggles.

"Ginny, wait! I-" Dean stuttered as Ginny stepped into the portrait hole.

Ginny heard him, but had no desire to talk with him any longer, so she determinedly continued on her way. Just before she reached the other side of the portrait hole she felt herself being pushed. She lost her footing and almost fell to the ground. Dean attempted to catch her, and together they stumbled into the common room.

Almost as if she were a spring, Ginny popped up and was on her feet. Dean was still on the floor, looking very bewildered. Ginny glowered at him. As though they could feel the heat of Ginny's anger emanating from her, the other Gyffindors in the common room went silent and began shifting uncomfortably.

"YOU BLOODY PUSHED ME!" she shouted.

"N-n-no... I-I...you fell...I caught you..." Dean stammered.

"If there had been any small glimmer of hope for you to redeem yourself Dean Thomas, it's gone now! I can ruddy well get through the portrait hole on my own, and I can ruddy well make it through life on my own! We are SO over!"

Ginny was so angry that her vision was blurred, she stormed up to her dormitory, and angrily put on her night gown. She jumped onto her four-poster, ripped the curtains shut, and began beating the pulp out of her pillow. Her thoughts were not coherent, all she could feel was emotion, and before she could stop it she was crying. Which, of course, only made her more angry. Ginny hated crying. She shut her eyes as tightly as she could and prayed that sleep would come swiftly.

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"I am so not in the mood to play the guessing game tonight," Ginny said irritatedly as Lily Potter approached her in the dream again.

"Then stop trying to guess," Lily replied simply, "Why don't you just talk to me?"

"Am I allowed to do that?" Ginny asked tentatively.

"Will you stop trying to question everything, Ginny, just relax a little. Of course you're allowed to talk to me," Lily laughed.

Under normal circumstances, Ginny might have been offended at being laughed at, but for some reason Lily's laughter made her feel more at ease. Soon, she was speaking, though she didn't really know what she was going to say.

"Are...are all boys complete and total prats?"

"Yes, they are," Lily answered with that sympathetic smile someone always has when they are giving the harsh facts of life.

"I thought so," Ginny said solemnly.

"They're all prats, but then sometimes they surprise you. It may take them forever to get it right, but eventually they come around, or at least the right one does." Lily said as her eyes travelled to James, who was sitting under the tree and smiling brightly at her.

Ginny looked at them and suddenly felt very hopeful. Maybe dreaming about Harry's mum and dad wasn't so terrible after all.


	5. Failing the Art of Subtly

**Author's note: **Alright so small disclaimer on this one: Any of the _italicized_ dialogue, in the Common Room scene where Harry is explaining what happened with Malfoy in the bathroom, belongs to JK Rowling. I am not claiming it as my own! I'm only playing with her lovely characters for a bit of fun, and only hope to honour her work. I tried to think of a way to write this without using it, but it was such a defining moment in Harry and Ginny's relationship, that I just couldn't not include it. So again any _italicized _dialogue in that scene belongs to JKR.

I hope you like this one, I really do. As I said it's probably my favourite so far.

Enjoy and Review if you like.

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It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and Ginny couldn't help feeling elated, she had just finished a particularly wonderful Quidditch practice and was now walking back to the castle. Judging by what she had seen today from the team's performance, she was confident that the house cup would be making a triumphant return to Gryffindor.

"Ginny!" she heard someone call from behind her. She turned to see Harry trotting toward her, her favourite silly grin branded on his face. She stopped walking so he could catch up with her.

"Some practice huh? The team's looking great, especially with Katie back," he said quickly when he reached her, but then he seemed to question his words.

"I-I mean Dean was quite good and all, and we'll miss him," Harry backtracked, "but Katie is just more experienced and is-uh-"

"A better chaser?" Ginny finished for him.

"Well, yeah."

"I agree. Harry, you don't have to beat around saying that Dean wasn't as good a chaser as Katie. Just say it. We're not together anymore, and even if we were I wouldn't have been offended, it's the truth."

"Right, I was-uh sorry to hear about that, your break up I mean," Harry said, but the smirk he was trying to hide told her that he wasn't sorry in the least. "Are-are you doing ok, you know, with that stuff?"

Ginny nodded.

"Honestly, I feel great. I wasn't happy, and neither was he. I feel more like myself lately. Unfortunately, I can't say that Dean is doing quite as well as me though," She explained.

"No, he seems a bit put out lately doesn't he?" Harry said thoughtfully, "I bet Katie's return didn't help matters any."

"No, probably not," she replied, thinking that she was quite glad Katie's return had booted Dean from the team.

"You know, I feel sort of sorry for him," said Harry, Ginny turned to look at him to see if he was being sarcastic, but to her surprise Harry looked very genuinely filled with empathy for Dean.

"Why?" Ginny asked stiffly.

"Well," Harry began shyly, before meeting her eyes, "I reckon if I were Dean, and I had let an amazing girl like you slip through my fingers, I'd never be able to forgive myself. I'd feel like the biggest idiot that ever lived."

His brilliant green eyes bore into her, and her stomach felt like it was full of pixies. Ginny could feel her heart pounding heavily and it was taking a moment for her breath to catch up with her.

"Oh, I see," was all she managed in response. '_An amazing girl like you...'_ Harry's words echoed in Ginny's head.

A giddy little smile formed on her lips. She wanted to twirl in circles! She had to take a deep breath to keep from leaping into his arms, she needed to relax. _Keep cool, Weasley, keep cool!_ She had to let him make his move, this time he had the quaffel in his possession. She needed to be patient...being patient had never been one of her strengths.

They continued to walk side by side, in comfortable silence. Harry's hand gently brushed Ginny's accidentally, and she felt tingles erupting from where contact had occurred. She looked over at Harry, curious to see if he'd had the same sort of reaction. He was looking at her fingers hungrily. She stretched them out, opening her hand to him. Slowly she watched as his began to reach for hers, his fingertips were so close. He looked up into her eyes.

"Ginny, I-" He began as he continued to reach...

"Oi! Harry, Ginny, wait for me," came Ron's booming voice from behind them.

At the sound of her brother's voice, Harry leapt away from her, and began to look at the grass beneath his feet guiltily. Ron had caught up, he pushed himself between them, threw one arm around Harry's shoulder, and the other around Ginny's. She wanted to scream, and hex her brother into bloody oblivion!

"Well, I think it's safe to say that with me as keeper, not that pillock McLaggen, you as seeker mate, and you, my dear little sis, as our star chaser, the House Cup is as good as Gryffindor's!" Ron boasted happily, as the three of them stepped into the Entrance Hall.

"Don't lay it on so thick Ron, we haven't won yet! There's still a lot of work to be done before the match," Ginny said irritably, as she wriggled out from underneath Ron's arm.

"She's right, we shouldn't be overconfident. Ravenclaw is in great form this year. If we go in thinking we've already won, we'll lose for certain," Harry said in a very cool tone. Ron took his arm off Harry and looked at them both in confusion.

"Merlin! I was just trying to be positive," he said defensively.

Ginny had crossed her arms, and Harry looked a lot more than mildly annoyed.

"Wait? Harry, do you think there's something more I can do to improve my form?! Do you think I'm not ready for the match!?" Ron said, his voice cracking at the end in pure panic.

"No, you're more than ready, and your bloody form is near perfect! I'm just tired of talking about Quidditch, alright! All you want to talk about is Quidditch! I am interested in other things you know!" Harry said quickly, with a furrowed brow.

"The match for the House Cup is less than a week away, and you're Quidditch Captain, what else could you possibly be interested in right now?" asked Ron, looking at Harry like he was totally barmy.

"Just...just-OTHER THINGS! OK?" Harry grunted loudly in frustration, his eyes lingering on Ginny as he spoke, "I'm going to go now! To do some-some studying!"

Ron nodded, as if he were going to go with Harry.

"No! I need to study ALONE!" Harry barked at Ron.

"Alright, alright! I get it, you need space!" Ron whined, with his hands up in defeat.

"Bye Ginny," Harry said gruffly.

"Bye Harry," Ginny answered, feeling terribly disappointed.

Harry took a quick, but longing, glance at her before he hurried off up the marble staircase. Ron watched him go in bewilderment.

"I wonder what's crawled up his arse? Merlin," he said.

Ginny let her anger toward her oblivious brother escape, she socked him as hard as she could on the arm.

"OW! What was that for!?" He yelped.

"Ron, YOU have the worst timing in the world! The absolute WORST!" She spat at him, before storming off to the common room. She could only imagine the dumb look on his stupid freckled face as he said:

"Has everyone gone completely mental today? Bloody hell!"

The rest of the week was, much to Ginny's disappointment, quite free of any further such meetings with Harry. Of course she had eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner with him in the Great Hall, they had also done a fair amount of walking to lessons and revising together.

However, on all these occasions Neville, Ron, Hermione, Luna, various other members of the D.A., and/or the entire Gryffindor quidditch team had also been in their company. Ginny desperately longed to steal another moment alone with him, but it seemed as though someone, or another, of their friends was determined to make it impossible.

This evening had not been an improvement, Harry had been curiously absent from dinner. Ron was absent too. But as he couldn't keep anything down, due to his nerves about the impending match, Ginny hadn't really expected her brother to join them. Hermione didn't know where Harry was either, and Ginny immediately regretted asking her where he'd got to, because her friend failed to stifle a silly little giggle as she answered.

"Why so interested in Harry, Ginny?" Hermione sang.

Ginny stabbed a carrot on her plate viciously, and began to think of a way to prevent Hermione from pestering her about Harry. Ginny knew the only way to stop her was to use a distraction. And, the best way to distract Hermione Granger was to let her show off some bit of obscure and useless knowledge. The trouble with this tactic was that once Hermione got started, it was difficult to get her to shut up. But right now, Ginny was quite content to let her blabber on all night, if it meant she was free from having to discuss whatever it was that might be going on between her and Harry.

"Hermione, I need to work on my History of Magic essay after dinner, do you know if it was Bogrod the Bearded or Urg the Unclean that started the Hogsmeade rebellion? I can never remember," Ginny asked quickly, trying to sound utterly helpless, and decidedly ignoring Hermione's question about Harry.

"It was Bogrod the Bearded in 1612," she blurted out instantly as her eyes lit up. "He brutally murdered the owner of the Hog's Head and overtook the inn as the rebel headquarters. It's quite interesting really, they were able to hold the inn for nearly three months, before it was taken back by the ministry. But when the ministry finally managed to get in, Bogrod and the other goblins..." Hermione continued to explain in great detail.

Ginny chuckled to herself, mission accomplished. It was far too easy to get Hermione off topic. However, much to Ginny's dismay, Hermione's knowledge and interest in goblin rebellions didn't last all the way up to the common room.

"So," Hermione said as they walked through the corridors, "the other night when I told Harry about you and Dean, he was surprisingly unconcerned about your break up interfering with the Quidditch team. In fact, I'd say he looked positively euphoric when he heard the news...odd isn't it?"

Ginny was determined not to look at Hermione, she could tell from her friend's tone of voice that she was wearing an all-knowing smirk with great pride. The same damned smirk she had been wearing for the better part of the last few weeks. The smirk that appeared anytime Hermione spotted Harry and Ginny together. It had gotten to the point where Ginny desperately wanted to just smack the smug thing right off her face.

"Well, it's not odd at all really. Katie had come back, so there was no need for him to worry about us not working well together on the pitch," Ginny told Hermione, as apathetically as she could.

"Yes, well, I guess you're right. But-"

'There's always a 'but' with this one,' Ginny thought in exasperation, as Hermione continued.

"He didn't yet know that Katie had been released from St Mungo's when I told him about you and Dean."

"Oh come on Hermione, Harry has far more pressing matters to worry about than a silly break up on his Quidditch team! I'm not sure if you're aware, but there's this awful man that's been trying to kill him since he was a baby. He's got these terrifying red eyes, nose like a snake, an extreme hatred for all of humanity! Does the name Voldemort ring any bells?" Ginny said sardonically.

"It does," Hermione answered, completely disregarding Ginny's sarcasm, "but just because he's The Boy Who Lived, doesn't mean he doesn't think about normal things too. You know, exploding snap, dung bombs, and quidditch, among other topics...especially topics that are pretty and make him laugh. You know I think you and Harry have quite a lot of things in common, more than you know."

"I'm well aware of just how much we have in common, Hermione. But, our common...interests are...complicated," said Ginny, turning to face Hermione.

"It's much less complicated than you think it is, trust me," Hermione said with full conviction.

Maybe she was right, maybe it could be very simple with Harry. However, the stubborn Weasley blood in Ginny did not want to give Hermione the satisfaction of knowing she might be on to something. So, she turned the tables on her.

"Really? You think so? In that case, the things you have in 'common' with my brother, well, they must not be very complicated either?" Ginny challenged.

"Th-that's completely different," spluttered Hermione.

"I don't see how it's any different at all," Ginny said, crossing her arms.

"It's quite simple really," Hermione sighed, "Harry's less of an idiot than your brother. With Harry there's at least some hope, with Ron...well, he's about as observant as a blast-ended skrewt."

Ginny burst out with laughter, and reluctantly Hermione began to giggle too. As their chuckles began to subside, Ginny noticed someone at the other end of the corridor running, full force, straight at them. As the person got closer Ginny recognised his chaotic black hair. He would have collided with them if Ginny hadn't flattened herself against the wall, and pulled Hermione out of the way with her. As he flew past, Ginny noticed something about his appearance that made her heart fall out of her chest and onto the floor.

"Was that?" asked Hermione.

"Harry," Ginny answered, with a nervous nod of the head.

"Was he covered in-" Hermione said shakily.

"Blood? Yes, he was," replied Ginny.

For a moment, they blinked at each other in shock, before instantly tearing off after him. Having been scooped up off the floor, Ginny's heart was now thundering inside her chest. She and Hermione raced up the stairs to the seventh floor corridor. Something had happened, something very bad. Why couldn't he, just once, be covered in something pleasant, like chocolate or mud, or even dragon dung, anything that was less foreboding than blood?

When they reached the top of the stairs, they found Ron standing there with his school bag wide open in front of him, like he was going to take something out, but he was just frozen, completely dazed.

"Ron! Did you just see Harry?!" Ginny blurted out immediately.

"Yeah, he...there was blood all over him..." said Ron.

"We know, we saw him too. Did he say anything to you, Ron?" demanded Hermione.

"He, uh...wanted my potions book, said he'd explain later and then he ran off again," Ron replied, scratching his head.

"I bet it has something to do with that stupid Half-Blood Prince, I've been telling him that that book was going to get him into trouble for ages," Hermione said huffily.

"Should we go after him?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"I was confused by all the blood, I didn't see where he went," said Ron.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to go back to the common room and wait, if something's going on I'm sure there'll be an announcement or a message for the prefects, and if everything is fine, then Harry will have to turn up eventually," said Hermione.

Despite Ginny's many protestations, Hermione and Ron eventually persuaded her to go back to the common room with them. Once there, she didn't sit down, she couldn't possibly relax, so she paced nervously in front of the fire. It wasn't long before news of what had happened reached them. Neville came bursting through the portrait hole. When he saw Ron and Hermione, he rushed over to them.

"I've been looking everywhere for you two! Is it true?" He asked.

"Is what true?" Ron answered, with a shrug his shoulders.

"About what happened in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?"

"What the polyjuice potion? I sort of thought that was old news by now," said Hermione, looking perplexed.

"No, not that! About what just happened, with Harry and Malfoy?"

"Neville, we don't know what happened. We saw Harry run past us, covered in blood and we don't know why. We were waiting here for him. What do you know?" Ginny interjected.

"Oh, well, erm, the rumour is that Harry and Malfoy had a duel in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and um-well, Harry used some sort of curse that slashed Malfoy up like a sword," Neville explained. "Then people in the corridors saw him running, like he was running away."

Ron and Hermione exchanged worried looks.

"That doesn't make any sense, Harry would never use a curse like that! Even if he did, he would never run away if he'd injured someone badly," Ginny shouted.

"I'm just telling you what I've heard, Ginny! I don't know what happened for certain, Myrtle's just been in all the bathrooms wailing that Harry's a murderer. I don't believe for a second he would ever do anything like this on purpose, or for any unwarranted reason," said Neville, quite calmly.

"I'm sorry, Neville. I didn't mean to shout at you, I'm just worried," Ginny said plopping down in an armchair.

"It's alright, I'm worried too. I'll go see if I can find out anything else, if I do I'll come back and let you lot know straight away," Neville said kindly, before rushing right back through the portrait hole.

So they waited, and waited, and waited some more. After what seemed like many lifetimes, but was probably only a few minutes, Harry finally emerged from the portrait hole. His shirt and robes were stained with blood, he looked paler than Nearly Headless Nick, and completely miserable.

Out of surprise, all three of them stood bolt upright.

"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Hey," he replied, shakily.

"What happened mate?!" asked Ron.

Harry opened his mouth to speak but before he could get any words out, Professor McGonagall burst into the common room.

"Potter!" she said sternly. "My office, immediately."

Harry grimaced, and nodded slowly before turning to leave the room again. McGonagall turned to address Ginny and Ron.

"Miss Weasley, Mr Weasley, I'd like you two to round up the rest of your quidditch teammates, you'll be having an emergency meeting with your captain as soon as I'm finished with him."

"Yes, Professor," answered Ginny.

Over the next twenty minutes, Ginny and Ron assembled the entire team in the common room. Everyone was curious about why this meeting had been called, some had heard the whispers of what had happened with Malfoy, so it seemed strange to have a meeting about Quidditch now.

Harry came in a bit later, his head hung low, still very pale, and looking even more miserable than before. All eyes were on him as he walked across the room and stood in front of the fireplace.

"Hey," he said quietly, looking down at his feet, "I know you're all probably wondering what this is about, and unfortunately I don't have good news for you."

He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his already messy hair.

"The long and short of it is, I just got detention with Snape every Saturday for the rest of the term...including this Saturday," he explained.

"What? As in the day of the House Cup?!" asked Demelza.

Harry looked up at her and slowly nodded.

"Harry, he can't do that! Have you talked to McGonagall about it? I'm sure she will-" Katie protested.

"No, Katie, I've already spoken to McGonagall, she agrees with his punishment, and honestly so do I. I deserve this one. I'm really sorry I've let you all down," Harry said sadly.

"How are we supposed to win this one without you, mate?" said Jimmy.

"You've all trained really hard for this," Harry said looking up, "and I hate myself for endangering our chances, but I believe in you. I know you can do it, with or without me."

"So, who's going to play seeker for you? Please don't say McLaggen," asked Ritchie with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Merlin no! I'd die before I'd let him near this team again. I was thinking, erm, Ginny would sub for me," Harry said, determinedly keeping his eyes from meeting Ginny's, "and we could have Dean chase for her. He knows all the plays already..."

"But Harry, what about that play we've been practising day in and day out, with Ginny as lead chaser, that was our secret weapon!" Katie said.

Harry swallowed hard, Ginny could see that this was eating him up inside. He looked like he just wanted to curl up in the fetal position and die.

"Well, we'll just have to save it for next year, but I don't think we really need it. We've got three days to work hard, we'll be ready for Ravenclaw, this is just a slight setback," Ginny said forcefully.

"Ginny's right," Katie agreed, "we'll just have to train harder than we have all year in the next few days, once we get a rhythm going with Ginny as seeker and Dean in her place, everything will be fine."

With that the team dispersed, and dejectedly returned to their dormitories. Harry sank down into one of the armchairs near the fire, and put his face in his hands. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were the only people remaining in the common room with him. Ginny wanted to know what had happened with Malfoy, but she could tell that the last thing Harry wanted to do was recount the tale that had brought him to his current state of desolation. Hermione, however, did not to share this sympathy for him.

"Harry, what on earth happened tonight?" she asked.

Knowing that there was no way he could avoid it, reluctantly he told them how he'd followed Malfoy on the Marauder's map to the bathroom. He explained that he had tried to confront Malfoy about what he was up to in the Room of Requirement, and how the duel had broken out. He told them that he heard Malfoy utter the first syllable of the Cruciatus curse, before he remembered a spell that he'd seen in the Half-Blood Prince's notes that had been labeled 'for enemies'. When he used it, to his horror, Malfoy was splayed out as if several invisible swords had slashed him from the inside.

When he had finished, there were a few moments of silence between them before Hermione spoke again, unable to contain the superiority in her voice.

"_I told you there was something wrong with that Prince person. And I was right wasn't I?"_

Ginny shot her a scathing look, couldn't she see how terrible Harry felt about everything? The last thing he needed was for his friends to start telling him 'I told you so!'.

_"No,"_ Harry replied, obviously irritated,_"I don't think you were."_

_"Harry,"_ Hermione continued, _"how can you still stick up for that book when that spell-"_

_"Will you stop harping on about that book!"_ Harry interrupted. _"The Prince only copied it out! It's not like he was advising anyone to use it! For all we know, he was making a note of something that had been used against him!"_

_"I don't believe this,"_ Hermione scoffed. _"You're actually defending-"_

_"I'm not defending what I did!"_ Harry exclaimed. _"I wish I hadn't done it, and not just because I've got about a dozen detentions. You know I wouldn't've used a spell like that, not even on Malfoy, but you can't blame the Prince, he hadn't written 'try this out, it's really good'- he was just making notes for himself, wasn't he, not for anyone else..."_

When Ginny had first heard about the Half-Blood Prince and that Harry was taking someone else's words out of a book and using them, she'd had a terrible feeling. She still didn't think it was entirely right for him to use it as much as he did. But, it had helped Harry learn a lot about potions and until tonight, that was all the book had ever done for him. Harry had a point, the Prince hadn't been telling anyone to use his notes. She made notes in her schoolbooks all the time, it wasn't unusual. It was Harry's fault for using magic he didn't know anything about, not the Prince's.

Who was Ginny to judge him though? She'd taken advice from a book once without thinking about the consequences, and it had turned out far worse than what had happened with Harry and Malfoy. She knew first hand that when you make such a horribly grave mistake, and it endangers the lives of other people, the last thing you need is someone to lecture you about how stupid you were to do it. When Riddle's diary had released her, she truly thought that she belonged in Azkaban after the trouble she'd caused. Her insides had crawled with pure disgust in herself, the self-deprecation was worse than any lecture she got.

_"Are you telling me that you're going to go back-"_ said Hermione incredulously.

_"And get the book? Yeah, I am,"_ Harry spat back at her, _"Listen, without the Prince I'd have never won the Felix Felicis. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I'd never have-"_

_"-got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve,"_ Hermione shot back disdainfully.

Ginny had had enough.

_"Give it a rest, Hermione!"_ Ginny snapped at her. _"By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"_

For the first time that night, Harry met Ginny's eyes. They were filled with pure gratitude, and the right corner of his mouth slightly twitched upward in relief.

_"Well, of course I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed!"_ Hermione spluttered, stunned that Ginny would dare disagree with any of her oh-so brilliant opinions. _"But you can't call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny, look where it's landed him! And I'd have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match-"_

_"Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch, you'll only embarrass yourself!"_ Ginny bit back at her friend.

Almost simultaneously, both girls crossed their arms. Ron promptly hid behind Hermione's upside down Arithmancy book. But Harry, he sought Ginny's eyes, and when he caught them, he mouthed the word 'Thanks' with a sheepish smile. Despite the anger, and a slight tinge of regret for snapping at Hermione, Ginny was glad she'd shut her up. If things were a bit awkward between her and Hermione, so be it, it was totally worth the look Harry was giving her.

"Ron, I need my Arithmancy book. I know you aren't reading it. I'm going to bed," Hermione said, her voice quivering, as she hurriedly collected her things. She was on the verge of tears.

As she watched Hermione scurry up the stairs, Ginny knew that she would have to apologise eventually. However, she fully intended to make Hermione admit that she was behaving ridiculously, before the words 'I'm sorry' left her lips.

A few minutes later Ron, Harry, and Ginny retired to the dormitories as well. As she got ready for bed, she began to think about the impending Quidditch match, and for the first time all year, she got extremely nervous. She sprawled out on her four-poster and stared at the top of it, all the while her mind was racing.

Ginny knew she wasn't near as good of a seeker as she was a chaser. Her seeking skills were almost comical in comparison to Harry's. Ginny had an awful thought. She'd be playing against Cho, Harry's ex-girlfriend, and if Gryffindor lost, perhaps Harry would go congratulate her and somehow end up back together with her. That was something that Ginny just could not stand for. If this match resulted in anyone being snogged by Harry James Potter, it had better be Ginny's lips enjoying it! She'd catch that ruddy snitch, she'd catch that snitch if she died trying.

hghghghghghhghghghghghghghg

"Hello Lily," Ginny greeted cheerfully in her dream, as she plopped down next to them under the oak tree. She'd stopped worrying so much about why the dreams were happening, and had now embraced them as a part of her nightly routine.

"Welcome back Ginny," Lilly returned, "Anymore boy trouble?"

"Not really...well, sort of. But it'd be a bit awkward to talk to you about it," Ginny replied.

"Why's that? Because Harry is my son?" asked Lily.

"Yes, that's exactly why," said Ginny simply.

"If it makes any difference, I've been rooting for you from the very beginning," Lily said encouragingly. "I never much cared for the Chang girl, she was too attached to that Cedric boy to give Harry the attention he deserved."

"What do you mean you've been rooting for me? Are you saying you think that I should be with Harry?" said Ginny.

Lilly nodded.

"I think you want that as well, don't you?"

"I-uh...yes. I do. But I don't know if he wants that too. I mean I think he does, but I can't really be sure, can I? What if he really does just think of me like a little sister, and the signs I have been seeing from him are all in my head! What if he'd still rather be with Cho? If she catches the snitch at the match, maybe he'll be really impressed with her and she'll finally realise how wonderful he is! Oh, that would be awful! But if she could make him happier-I really do want him to be happy and-" Ginny spewed out in one breath.

"Ginny! Slow down!" Lily interrupted. "You don't really think that's going to happen do you?"

"Well, no I suppose not. But I just wish I knew what he was thinking, about me," sighed Ginny.

"That's the trouble with this sort of thing," Lily replied. "You have to take a risk, and put your heart on the line to move forward."

"Right, well, that's not terrifying or anything," Ginny said.

"I didn't say it was easy," said Lily with a shrug.

"So what now? Do you think I should just tell him how I feel?"

"You could, or you could show him," suggested Lily.

"Show him? What do you mean by that? Should I just grab him and snog his brains out?"

"If you like. However, I was thinking along more subtle lines," said Lily, shifting a little uncomfortably.

"Right, subtle," Ginny repeated.

Ginny never had quite gotten the hang of subtly.


End file.
